I apologise, Mr Brady.
As the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr David) knows, my general point is that the comments the Opposition Members have made today betray the fact that they do not trust the British people with these decisions. They said, ““Well, of course, we could put a whole series of things to a referendum””. But this is the point: it is about the transference not of decision making, but of powers by treaty to an outside body. Whether in their attitude to the European constitution—it is odd to try to force a constitution on the British people and a nation that does not have a constitution—or whether on the Lisbon treaty, on which a referendum was promised but not given, at every single point, the Labour party has shown its contempt for what the people want. In the course of that, it has damaged the very European project that it supports. For instance, it makes it very difficult to make the argument for the European arrest warrant—it actually helped one of my constituents in a moment of great difficulty, as I mentioned earlier—because every time it is rightly perceived to be a decision by people who think they know best but who do not trust the people with the arguments.
European Union Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Ben Gummer
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 25 January 2011.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee of the Whole House (HC) on European Union Bill.
About this proceeding contribution
Reference
522 c235 Session
2010-12Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamberSubjects
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2023-12-15 14:30:27 +0000
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